All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S03E13.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
They're watching you --

More than 4,000
Satellites circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new,
Mysterious phenomenon.

Some defy explanation.

I'm just puzzled.
It just doesn't fit.

Whatever it is
Can't be good news.

A river of light flows
Across the indian subcontinent.

You don't expect to see

A fiery streak
Snaking below you.

Nazi spies leave
Secret signals

In war-torn britain.

And it's possible
That these markers

Were used to guide
In other spies

Or perhaps an invasion.

And a pink lake glows
In the brazilian rainforest.

It looks like something
Bad happened here.

Baffling phenomenon,
Mysteries from space --

What on earth are they?

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator:
August 21, 2011.

Onboard the international
Space station,

An astronaut captures
An unusual image

Over southern asia.

Man: looking down from the iss,

You don't expect to see

A fiery streak
Snaking below you.

It looks almost like
A line of lava flow.

Narrator: but there are no
Active volcanoes in the area.

Man:
It doesn't look like a road.

It doesn't match a city.

And yet it goes
For hundreds of miles.

Narrator: the line of light

Cuts right across
The indian subcontinent.

Despite its remarkable color

And vast size,

It's possible the burning streak

Could have a simple explanation.

You can see cities
And towns that are lit up.

Could this just
Be a main road?

Narrator:
It's certainly possible.

**

From space, the brightest road
On the planet

Is the las vegas strip
In nevada.

It radiates with the light
Of more than 20 million bulbs

And 15,000 miles
Of neon tubes.

But scale analysis of the image

Taken over india reveals

That the glowing streak
Is far wider than any road.

This is a line
Of lights 450 feet wide.

That would be a superhighway
40 lanes wide.

Narrator:
The intense orange glow

Doesn't look anything like
Conventional street lighting.

Man: the color is striking.
It's --

It's a very vivid orange, uh,

Against the white lights
Of the cities.

So, um, you know,
It is perplexing.

What could be causing that?

Man: is there something
About that color

That's important to this story?

What else goes
With an orange light?

If it's not road,
Uh, could be a fire.

**

Narrator: fire plays a prominent
Role in some of india's vast

And spectacular
Religious festival.

One of the most remarkable
Is called dasara.

Dasara is a hindu festival.

And different regions
In india celebrate it,

Uh, in their own unique way.

Narrator: dasara commemorates
The victory of

The mother goddess durga

Over a shapeshifting demon
Called mahishasura.

It's the culmination of 10 days
Of religious festivities

And brings about new life
To the earth.

On the 10th night
Of the celebration,

It culminates
In a spectacular fire

Torch display,

A huge processional pilgrimage

Of a motorway of fire torches.

It's carried by at least

10,000 people
Within each celebration.

Narrator: but even 10,000
Torch-wielding festival goers

Wouldn't be enough to create
Such a vast blaze across india

That was visible from space.

If this were a parade,
We would need millions of people

To make a line this long
And this bright.

So if it's not a superhighway
Or a fiery parade,

What else could it be?

Narrator: astronaut leroy chiao

Has seen something
Like this before.

Uh, what this looks like to me

Is that it's some kind of
A border or a dividing line.

When we look closer and compare
This line to a map,

Well, it maps perfectly
To the border

Between india and pakistan.

Narrator: the division between
These two countries

Only dates from 1947,

When they were
Granted independence

From the british empire.

Ever since, this border
Has been the site of dozens

Of skirmishes
And dangerous standoffs

Between the rival militaries
And terrorist groups.

This is a very heavily
Defended and militarized border

Between two countries

That are technically
Allies and friends

But really don't like
Each other very much.

It stretches from the himalayas
All the way to the arabian sea.

Man: the borderline forms
A formidable barrier

To any unauthorized crossings.

One of the reasons
The defense was put up is

Because india wants
To control movement

Of insurgents from pakistan

To the indian side
Of the border.

It's patrolled by thousands
Of men on each side.

There's no question
That the area

Is immensely tense.

Both sides are waiting
For something to trigger

Some form of reaction
From the other side.

There's always the possibility

Of an outbreak of gunfire
Or worse.

Narrator: the indian government
Has installed high walls,

Barbed wire,
And antipersonnel mines

To defend the vulnerable border.

The fiery orange glow

Comes from powerful
Sodium-vapor lamps,

Which illuminate almost
The entire length of it.

It's floodlit so nobody
Can get across,

Even at night.

Man:
The orange glow is from over

150,000 high-power flood lights.

It's no wonder you can see it
From space at night.

Narrator: in 1962,
A u2 spy plane flying over

Cuba takes
A disturbing photograph.

It looks like a star of david
Carved into the ground.

Narrator: the image pushes
The u.S. Military

To the brink of war.

Man: imagine
When the photo interpreters

Came across this sight.

It shook the white house
And the cia to the core.

This was very nearly the end
Of the world as we know it.

Narrator: august 1962.

An american u2 spy plane
Flying over communist cuba

Takes a deeply disturbing
Photograph.

Man:
Imagine you're taking pictures

Over a hostile country.

If you saw this, alarm bells
Would be ringing immediately.

Narrator: the aerial image
Starts a chain of events

That takes the united states
To the brink of apocalypse.

The picture was taken
Over la coloma, 100 miles

From the cuban capital, havana.

Man: it stands out --
You can look at this photo.

And you can see,
They're carving this out of,

Uh, very dense vegetation.

Man: round the outside, there
Are some clear trackways

And other structures
That look quite big.

But the central feature
Really looks like

A version of the star of david.

Narrator: for centuries,
The star of

David has been a symbol
Of judaism

And, more recently,
The state of israel.

Cuba is more than
6,000 miles from israel.

But his part of the world
Does have a little-known

Jewish connection.

Man: some jewish people
Fled nazi europe.

And they wanted somewhere
Where they could practice

Their religion in safety.

And, obviously,
Cuba was ideal.

So there is quite a considerable

Jewish population on the island.

Narrator: in the 1950s,
More than 15,000 jews lived

In cuba.

But historical records
Reveal that a decade later,

At the time
The photograph was taken,

Over 90 percent of them
Had fled the country.

Although the jewish people felt
They got somewhere safe,

This was not the case.

The rise of the communist
Government under fidel castro

Put them under pressure.

And many of them left.

So it's very unlikely
That these are marks

Put in by
Any pro-jewish movement.

Narrator: archaeologists look
Further back

Into the island's history

For possible answers
To what the shape could be.

It bears a strong resemblance
To a mystical symbol

Used by the shamans
Of many north american tribes.

Man: shamans are
The intermediaries

Between a spirit world
On the one hand

And the earthly world
On the other.

Certainly among
Native american communities,

You find what are
Called medicine wheels,

Which look remarkably
Like the image.

Medicine wheels were used
By these shamans

For healing purposes
Or to predict the future.

Narrator:
Cuba was once home

To a mysterious tribe
Called the taino.

Their shamans conducted painful
Drug-fueled rituals

To access the spirit world.

Man: shim is found throughout
The native american world.

But particularly, the tainos
Took it to a really fine art.

And they went out
Of the earthly world,

Into the spirit world by going
Into what was known as trances.

These trances would be
Through dancing,

Often taking
Hallucinogenic drugs

And would then pass
Into this other world

Where they would
Receive knowledge

Which they could bring back
To the society.

Narrator: a large medicine wheel
Could play a part

In such shamanic rituals.

But scale analysis reveals

The site is around
700 feet across.

Man:
They clearly were capable

Of carving geometric
Patterns on rocks.

But this one
Is just far too big

And far too elaborate.

Narrator:
To military image analysts,

The photograph presents
Several telltale clues

Suggesting the activity
On the ground

Could have catastrophic
Consequences.

This is actually
The first image

I've been given where,

Without any doubt,
I can tell you what it is.

And it represents
Sort of the --

The cold war in one picture.

Narrator: this seemingly
Innocuous image

Starts a chain reaction

That would bring the u.S.
To the brink of war.

Man: if you saw these sights
On a photograph,

And you put them to anybody
In the pentagon,

Alarm bells would be
Ringing immediately.

Narrator: the pattern in
The image is recognized as

A footprint
For a soviet antiaircraft

Missile system
Called an sa2.

Man: if you look at places
Where the soviets help

Set up sa2 sites
Around the world,

Cuba, vietnam,
Later in other places,

They all have the same
Looking footprint

When viewed from above.

Looks like a star of david
Carved into the ground.

It is in unusual pattern,
But not once you understand

How these sites are constructed.

Then it starts to make sense.

Narrator: analysts believe
The site in the image

Was still under construction

At the time the photo was taken.

Imagery captured
Three months later

By u.S. Spy planes

Shows a fully
Operational missile base.

Man:
It's laid out in a pattern

Which allows you
To make the best use

Of your missiles
And guidance system.

Man: right in the middle
Was a radar center.

And then if you think
About around there,

In sort of a circular pattern,

Were the missile sites.

In this case, there were
Six missile sites

For the sa2 missiles.

And then, obviously,
You need to get back and forth.

So they would build roads.

This image is what essentially

Started the cuban
Missile crisis.

In the early '60s, during
The kennedy administration,

The cuban missile crisis

Almost erupted
Into the third world war.

Fidel castro asks
The soviet union

For weapons and missiles

And --
And military hardware,

Which they gladfully
Sent to cuba.

Man:
Cuba's relationship with --

With america was about
As tense as you could get.

Narrator: during the height
Of the missile crisis,

U2 spy planes took countless
Photographs over cuba.

These state-of-the-art aircraft

Could fly at altitudes up
To 70,000 feet,

Over twice that
Of a commercial jet.

Man:
What the soviets didn't know

Was what our capabilities were.

They completely underestimated
What we were capable

Of picking up.

Narrator: the presence of
The sa2 antiaircraft missiles

Tips-off u.S. Intelligence
That the soviets

Must be trying to protect
Something important.

Further reconnaissance flights
Over the surrounding area

Soon discover the soviet
Nuclear missiles.

The u.S. Government
Could not tolerate

Deadly weapons
So close to home.

Right next door, in cuba,
Right across the water,

Uh, the russians,

The soviets,
Had a foothold there.

It was an amazingly
Frightening prospect.

Man: these sites would trigger
A 13-day crisis

That brought two of the world's
Biggest superpowers

To the brink of nuclear war.

man: strategic air command
b-52 bombers

are now flying
a 24-hour mission.

Narrator:
After intense negotiations,

The russians backed down
And removed their nukes.

But short-range
Tactical missiles

Remain to protect
Cuban airspace.

Man: the russians built
24 of these sites.

And those 24 sites
Were all designed

To shoot down aircraft

That were flying
Over the island.

Narrator: today, modern aerial
Imagery of the same site

Shows no trace of the weaponry
That triggered the crisis.

The evidence of humanity's
Brush with annihilation

Is gone but not forgotten.

The cubans gave up
All their nuclear missiles.

And the soviets took them
Back to the soviet union.

Man: the general public wasn't
Aware that this was going on

Until the very end,
When it became known.

But it was an extremely,

Extremely intense
Period of time.

This was very nearly the end
Of the world as we know it.

Narrator: a satellite passes
High over

The amazon jungle
In brazil and spots

A lake that glows
With an impossible color.

This looks very disturbing.

It's a bright pink lake
In the middle

Of the brazilian rainforest.

It looks like something
Bad happened here.

Narrator: september 2003.

The quickbird ii
Satellite orbits 280 miles

Over a remote part of brazil

And captures
An extraordinary image.

Woman: that's a lake.

And that's pink.

They don't normally
Come in that color.

Man: I'm wondering if
There's something really,

Really wrong that's
Turned this water pink.

Narrator: the mile-long lake is
Located in deep rainforest

In the state of para,
Central brazil.

You wanna get to the bottom
Of what's going on here.

It makes sense to look
At the surrounding area.

Narrator: a clue to the lake's
Disturbing color

Could come from a secretive
Nearby military base,

The campo de provas
Brigadeiro velloso.

This is a location where
The brazilian military tests

Its high-tech

And most-secretive
Weapons systems.

The brazilian government

Is maintaining high security
Of this installation

And what actually
Goes on there.

For several years,
Brazil had

An active
Nuclear-weapons program.

And where was it based?

Right here.

Narrator: officially,
Brazil's nuclear program

Was abandoned in 1990.

Since then, there have been
No reports of contamination,

Radioactive or otherwise.

If the base is not responsible,

Could this strange color
Be a geological phenomenon?

It is possible that this lake
Could be colored due

To, uh, metal
Suspended in water.

Man: there's a famous river
In spain called the rio tinto.

If you look at pictures
Of the rio tinto,

You'll see, uh, colors
Of yellow and orange

And other colors like
That mainly from the iron,

The oxides that are being
Carried along in the water.

Narrator: geologists question

Whether naturally
Occurring metals

Could be reacting with
Something in the lake,

Creating the vivid color.

The minerals themselves
Would not be pink.

But they would turn pink
When they're exposed to the air.

And typically, it's minerals

Such as manganese
That would turn pink.

Narrator:
But it would be highly unusual

For manganese to produce a color

As vivid as that scene
In the image.

We've gotta look to some
Other kind of explanation.

Narrator: one possible cause
Of contamination in the water

Is industrial activity.

In 2015, a dam burst
At brazil's germano mine,

Releasing 13 billion gallons

Of toxic waste
Into a nearby river.

It turned the water
A putrid pink

And destroyed villages
Along its banks.

Perhaps a similar accident
Is to blame here.

Something of this scale

Would have to be
A pretty major incident.

There is a lot of mining
In the brazilian rainforest.

There's large-scale
Industrial mining of iron ore.

Also in the amazon, there's
A lot of rogue mining going on.

Miners are mining for gold
On a fairly large scale.

Narrator: intense
International pressure means

That the brazilian government
Keeps a close watch

On industrial activity
In the amazon.

It's unlikely
That an accident

Could be kept quiet for long.

Man: if a lake this large

Was that polluted by
A mining process,

You would hope that somebody
Would have noticed

And done something about

Before this became
Public knowledge.

Narrator: the search for answers
Leads investigators

Halfway around the world.

Could another lake,
Over 10,000 miles away,

Over a clue to
What's happening here?

The vivid pink hue
Of australia's lake hillier

Is caused by a rare type
Of single-celled microalgae

Called dunaliella salina.

Man: dunaliella salina uses
Different kinds of pigments

To absorb light.

Rather than green chlorophyll,
It uses a pink-colored pigment.

Narrator: the strange,
Bubblegum-colored algae

Only thrive
In very particular conditions,

In water that's at least 5 times
As salty as the ocean.

Man: a lake in
The amazon rainforest

Being highly saline

Would not be
What I would expect.

A rainforest is place with, uh,

High, uh,
Levels of precipitation.

And the only way to get a saline

Lake is to have
A lot of evaporation.

Salty water is essentially
Toxic to vegetation.

It's really, really unlikely

That you're going
To have such nice,

Green land next to it.

So that kind of rules
That one out.

Narrator:
No known natural phenomenon

Can explain the pink water
Visible in the image.

The nearby military base
Is the only factor

That distinguishes
This patch of jungle

From the thousands of miles

Of surrounding rainforest.

Could the military installation

Have some sort of connection

Between the weapons
That are being tested

And the color of the water?

Narrator:
This base still performs

Advanced weapons testing.

Some experts have proposed

That a byproduct of munitions

Handling might be responsible.

There is something
Called pink water,

Which is formed after
The washing of munitions.

So you've got artillery shells

That you wanna fill
With tnt, right?

You're filling them away.

You spill a bit.

You definitely need
To clean that up.

And when you wash it away,

It just gets absorbed
Into the water.

Narrator: as the tnt
And the waste water

Collects in the lake,
It undergoes a chemical reaction

Powered by the sun.

Woman:
It just looks clear like water.

But when that water
Is exposed to sunlight,

There is a photolytic reaction,

Which causes that water
To turn pink.

Narrator: so the colored lake
Could be caused

By large amounts of tnt
Dissolved in the water

Over decades
Of washing munitions.

Man: the only way to get
A final answer

On why this lake is pink
Would be to actually go

And test the water
And test the soil around it.

But because of the secrecy
And because of the location,

This may remain a mystery.

Narrator: british
Military intelligence releases

A cache of declassified

Secret world war ii documents.

One aerial image from 1945 shows
Bizarre shapes on the ground.

Man: this is wartime.

And the marks could only be
Seen from the air.

So which side were
They meant to be seen by?

Man: there were nazi
Spies in britain.

And it's possible
That these markers

Were used to guide
In other spies

Or perhaps an invasion.

Narrator: february 2010.

The british government
Declassifies

A cache of secret
World war ii documents

And releases them
From the military archives.

One aerial photograph
Shows bizarre shapes

In the english countryside.

What the hell is it?

Man: these circles are clearly
Meant to be seen from above.

And the question's by whom.

Narrator: the image was taken
Near the tatton estate,

10 miles southwest
Of manchester, england.

Available
Records make no mention

Of who took the photo or why.

Man:
It was very, very common

During the second world war
For aircraft to be

Sent up to experiment
With cameras

To train the airmen
How to do it,

Make sure everything
Was operating.

Narrator:
The mystery has stood unsolved

For more than 70 years.

Investigators consider whether
Localized magnetic fields

In the ground itself could have
Caused the strange shapes.

Under the ground,
You might get rocks,

Which will in --
Inhibit crop growth.

Man: you'd be surprised
The kind of complexity

And shapes that you can get
In the surface of the earth

From magnetic fields
From various rocks.

Narrator: but the soil in this
Part of england is very chalky.

Analysis of geological records
Also reveals no evidence

Of any magnetic metals

Such as iron deposits
That might cause the shapes.

If the markings
Are not natural.

Then what are they?

Man: um, my first reaction
To looking at this one is --

Is it basically
A crop circle?

Man: a crop circle is a large
Area of flattened crop.

Uh, it's usually wheat,
Often barley,

Sometimes oilseed rape.

Man: it's decorative.

You see this fairly often,
Frankly, in crop circles,

Uh, that are cut
Into agricultural

Fields particularly
Here in the u.S.

You fly over the middle
Part of this country.

And you'd be amazed
At sort of the shapes

And designs that you see.

Narrator: crop circles were
First reported

In the late 1970s.

If these shapes are
Crop circles photographed

During the second world war,

They would be
The first on record.

But close analysis of the image

Indicates the field the symbols

Are in does not contain
Crops of any kind.

A different technique
Must've been

Used to create the shapes.

They probably, uh,
Pulled -- cut the turf.

Or it was worn out

Or some means
Of disturbing the soil.

Narrator: a new theory suggests
The strange symbols

Might have been made
By the british military

As targets for parachutists.

Man: parachutists
Had to practice somewhere.

And one of the things
They would have needed

Is a target to aim at.

So it's just as likely that, uh,

The british military
Put down these targets

For their own parachutes --
Parachutists --

To aim at,

As a training, uh, tool.

Narrator: the nearest parachute
Base was just 4 miles away.

But a detail
In the image pokes

A hole in the parachute theory.

Close to the symbols
Is a small woodland.

Trees would pose a threat

To any parachutist
Landing nearby.

A more alarming possibility
Is that these symbols

Are some kind
Of coded signal

To aid invading nazi forces.

Man: it was known during
The second world war

That there were nazi
Spies in britain.

And it's possible
That these markers

Were used to guide
In other spies

Or perhaps an invasion.

It was a difficult process
Navigating,

Uh, for pilots at that time.

So the idea that there
Might be land-based markers,

Well, of course they were
Using land-based markers.

Narrator: could these markings
Be a secret signal

For invading
German aircraft?

Man: there's fear particularly
Following the fall of france

And dunkirk that --

That the nazis were getting
Us ready for invasion.

People were getting
A little bit paranoid

About what might be happening.

The british air force

Was constantly patrolling
The countryside,

Looking for any signs
That german sympathizers

Had let directing german bombers

Towards military targets.

Narrator: declassified papers
Reveal that during the war,

The british secret service
Feared britain

Could be infiltrated
By nazi sympathizers

Known as the fifth column.

Man: the fifth columnist is
Essentially a spy

Operating in one country

But acting on the part
Of the opponents

In a war, the enemy.

Narrator: the nightmare scenario
Was an army

Of covert nazis
Working in secret

To pave the way
For german domination.

Man: there was a real terror

There was
A fifth column in britain

Ahead of a nazi invasion.

Man: you have to put yourself
In the mind-set

Of the british people.

They've seen this massive
German war machine march

Through to the french coast.

They're right
Across the water.

You've gotta be worried
About an invasion.

Narrator: the symbols lie on
A direct flight path

From germany to one of
The luftwaffe's

Prime bombing targets,
The port city of liverpool.

Liverpool was a critical port
For the uk.

The atlantic supply convoys
From canada and the u.S.

Were the only thing
Keeping britain from starvation.

The luftwaffe inflicted
Devastating damage on the city,

Trying to sever this lifeline.

It -- it's, uh, fits into
The espionage thriller

Concept that german agents

Were out there
In the fields of england,

Carving patterns
And shapes in the fields

To help guide german pilots
For -- for bombing raids.

Nothing was ever proven.
Mi5 looked at this.

And they could find no evidence
That this was the case.

If these marks
Are not crop circles,

And they're not actually
Caused by enemy activity,

Then what are they?

Man: in 1945, the british
Secret service

Tried to figure this one out.

And it was a puzzle then.

Seventy years later,
It's still a puzzle.

We have no idea.

Narrator:
Today, satellite imagery

Of this location
Reveals that the path

And small woodland
Are still there.

But the strange
Symbols are gone.

If there is an answer
To this mystery here,

It is long buried.

Giant mysterious symbols emerge

From the sands of the desert
In a former soviet territory.

These features are
Absolutely enormous,

Bigger than the footprint
Of any of the pyramids.

The soviets took
On some of the most ambitious

Building projects
In human history.

So maybe that's what
We're looking at here.

Narrator: 2007.

An amateur archaeologist
Searches

Through online satellite imagery

Looking for ancient sites.

He spots something strange,

A three-armed shape
In the middle

Of a barren desert landscape.

Man: searching
Online and finding this,

What a fantastic find.

Narrator: the satellite image
Was captured over

The deserts of kazakh steppe
In northern kazakhstan.

This is not something
You see in nature.

Man: why would
Anybody do that?

What were they
Trying to say?

Narrator: the massive geoglyphs

In the kazakh desert are
So remarkable

They attract the interest
Of nasa scientists.

They use satellite imagery
Of the area to conduct

A remote investigation.

Man: nasa, of course,
Is very excited by this,

To see their equipment
Being used not just

For discovery in space
But also here on earth.

Narrator: satellite photographs

Reveal that
The three-armed shape

Is not the only large symbol
In the area.

Hundreds of weird
Geoglyphs are spotted

Strewn across
The desert landscape,

Some featuring crosses,
Dots, rings and lines.

They're beautiful.
They're massive.

And they show off
The ability of mankind

To do things that are
Impactful from distances

As far away as space.

Narrator: scale analysis reveals
The size of the structures.

Judging by the width
Of this road,

This mound is approximately
7 meters in width,

Which is pretty large.

These features are
Absolutely enormous,

Bigger than the footprint
Of any of the pyramids.

So who built them?
And what are they for?

Narrator: it's clear
That these symbols

Are a massive feat
Of human engineering.

Their location on
The kazakh steppe leads

Some to suspect
That the former soviet union

Had a hand in creating them.

The soviets took
On some of the most ambitious

Engineering projects
In human history.

Maybe that's what
We're looking at here.

From the time of stalin onwards,
Uh, the soviet union was very,

Very keen on improving
Agriculture and terraforming,

Shaping the land,
To suit agriculture.

Some of these projects
Were so large

That they were designed
To turn areas

That were previously deserts
Actually into farmable land.

Man: patriots of the soviet
Republic set the pace

In gathering the hay
For the glorious red cavalry.

Soviet attempts to turn
The largely deserts

Of kazakhstan
Into farmable areas

Meant that they virtually drain
The aral sea completely.

Narrator: records of soviet
Agricultural experiments are now

Supposed to be accessible
To the public.

But available records make
No mention of work in this area.

If the soviets didn't
Construct the earthworks,

Could they come
From further back

In the bloody history
Of the kazakh steppe?

With these satellite images,
Of course, there's limitation.

They tell us there's
Something there.

So it prompts us
To go find these things

On the ground
To study them,

Uh, with traditional
Archaeological methods.

Narrator: archaeologists
Investigate at ground level

And discover the patterns

Are made up
Of mounds of earth.

The evidence seems
To indicate the geoglyphs

Are far older than anyone
Previously imagined.

So one culture
That could've created

These features was
The mahanza culture,

Which was around 7,500 bc
To 5,500 bc.

Narrator: the mysterious
Stone-age mahanza culture dates

From a time before
Written history began.

Almost nothing is
Known about them.

We know that the mahanza was
Basically a nomadic population.

Narrator: some suspect that
The earthworks

May have acted
As a celestial calendar.

Man: one of the things
That would've been a concern

To past people in --

And that drove them
To very carefully observe

Celestial phenomena,
The solstices,

The behavior of some planets

And stars and the moon,

Of course, was, uh,
Their understanding

Of the agricultural year

And being able to plan ahead
For the year to come.

Narrator: in 2015,
An investigation of the site

Using cutting-edge
Technology discovers

That it might not be
Stone age at all.

Archaeologists
Use a technique

Called optically
Stimulated luminescence,

Or osl, and date one earthwork
Back to just 800 bc,

Far more recent
Than first thought.

Osl dating is
A kind of methodology

Where sand would
Have been exposed

At one point to the sun.

So it tells us,
When's the last time

That sand saw light,

Giving us the indication

When humans were
Building this feature.

Narrator: 800 bc is close to
The dawn of the iron age,

A time when
Monumental structures

Start to appear elsewhere
On the russian steppe.

Man:
This certainly does suggest

It's more likely to be,
Uh, a kinda ceremonial structure

Because it's
A very odd shape.

Narrator: the scale of
These vast earthworks

Is what kept them undiscovered
For thousands of years.

They are only
Visible from above.

You created them
And who they were created

For remains a mystery.

At the climax of the cold war,

A u.S. Spy satellite captures
A disturbing image,

Which triggers
A cia investigation.

Man: you have to imagine what
The cia must have been thinking.

Everything
Is a potential threat.

Narrator: hidden in a range
Of coastal hills

Are what appear to be
Nuclear missile silos.

Man: have we locked
Onto a launch site?

Narrator: 1985.

The u.S. And russia are still
In the grips of the cold war.

But now a new power
Is rising in the east.

China is stepping up
Its nuclear weapons program.

That's a concern from
A national security perspective,

Not just for one nation
But for the entire globe.

Narrator: the cia's kh-22
Spy satellite

Is tasked
To fly over china.

Looking down on
The coastal highlands

Of fujian province,

It spots something suspicious,

A series of unusually
Round structures

Set into the ground,

Their circular openings

Pointing up into space.

Right at the top of
The apparatus

Of national security issues.

So you look at
An image like this.

And you immediately
Think, "Okay.

Is there a military purpose
To this site?"

To a military analyst,
You see these big cones

That are poking up
In the middle.

That just screams missile.

Narrator: analysts fear
The circular shapes

Could be missile silos

For launching china's new,
Ultimate weapon.

At this time, china had recently
Completed long-range tests

Of their new
Nuclear-ballistic missile,

Code named dongfeng,

The eastern wind,

Or known simply as the df-5.

China's always had
A massive military

As far as manpower's concerned.

But by this point,
They were also

Catching up technologically.

The united states
Was especially worried

About long-range missiles

And nuclear warheads.

Narrator: intelligence reports
On these new missiles

Indicate they have
Alarming capabilities.

Df-5 is china's
First icbm,

Intercontinental
Ballistic missile.

It could carry one
To three nuclear warheads.

And it has a range
Of 7,500 to 9,300 miles.

Look on a map.

That hits the mainland
Of the usa.

So we're busy trying
To understand

Where they're putting
These launch sites.

Narrator: the entire
U.S. Western seaboard

Would be want missile range.

Everyone's worried.
What is china doing here?

Man: the df-5 affects
The stability of the pacific

Because the chinese now
Have the technology

To fire nuclear missiles

Against all of the american
Allies in the pacific

As well as the american
West coast.

Narrator: after
The initial sighting,

The cia conducts intense

Satellite surveillance
Of the area.

The picture it builds up
Creates a growing fear

That china has built

A vast network
Of missile silos

Along the eastern
Coastline of fujian.

I would argue that the cia,

When it comes to imagery,
Doesn't often get it wrong.

Man: the cia takes this evidence
To the president.

And reagan says, "Find out more
About these structures

That we found
On the satellites,"

'cause from overhead,

You can't really
Tell what they are.

Man:
So what do we do about this?

We've locked onto what may
Be a missile launch site.

Immediately, you've gotta say,

"We need human
Intelligence on this."

Narrator: cia espionage
Operations against china

From the 1980s
Are still highly classified.

But according to
Unconfirmed reports,

This image prompted the agency

To launch a field investigation.

Washington wants to know
What's going on here.

So they send a spy,
A guy named howard h. Beck,

On a state-sponsored
Tour of the mountains

To see what's going on here.

Narrator:
The only way for the cia

To get their man
In is posing as a tourist.

Man: this is the height
Of the cold war.

It's nearly impossible
To go to china on your own.

And so he's very closely watched
By the chinese government

And government officials.
And he's tailed.

And he's told what he can
And can not photograph.

Narrator: tourism in china

Is tightly
Controlled at this time.

Visitor permits are only issued

After careful background checks.

And most areas are
Forbidden to outsiders.

Tourists follow
A strict schedule,

Taken on guided tours
Of factories,

Schools and communes.

When cia agent beck

Finally gets to
The assumed missile site,

He's in for a complete surprise.

Man: so he travels
To the fujian provence.

He gets to these structures.

And he starts takin' pictures.

And he doesn't know

Why he's allowed
To take so many pictures.

But it turns out that
They're just housing complexes.

They're massive round
And square structures.

They look like
Castles a bit,

Surrounded by agricultural land.

Narrator:
The unusual round structures

Are a remarkable kind of chinese

Building traditional
To the area,

Known as a tulou.

The tulou structures are --
Are defensive.

They're like castles
In europe.

The aim is to, um, protect
The inhabitants, the families,

Which could be up
To 800 people inside them.

Um, they have their
Own source of water.

They could preserve
Food in there.

They could keep livestock,
Grow vegetables and so on

And protect themselves either
From local marauding tribes

Or marauding bandits.

It's just a community living

In a traditional
Housing structure.

Narrator: these large,
Round housing blocks

Actually date back
To the time of shakespeare

And are unique to the area.

The walls are made of earth

Mixed with bamboo and rice.

Man: these, uh, tulou structures
Are in the records

Of the ming dynasty
In the 1500s.

So the cia probably didn't need
To go and, uh, investigate them

Because they definitely
Predate nuclear weapons.

They probably could've just
Gone to a decent library.

Last time I checked,
Rice and mud do not pose

A national security threat
To the united states of america.

To be fair to the cia,

At the time they were
Looking at them,

China was not such
A hot tourist destination

That it is now.

So they were somewhat
More mysterious.